


the heart of the sea // theonsa

by LittlefingersMustache



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Mermaids, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-18
Updated: 2018-07-17
Packaged: 2019-06-12 07:25:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15334824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittlefingersMustache/pseuds/LittlefingersMustache
Summary: Theon Greyjoy has always been but a lowly fisherman, working for his father his whole life. He wishes for something much better, something dazzling. But his life is bland — that is, until he pulls up what is definitely not a fish in his nets.Sansa Stark is the princess of Winterfell, a magical underwater city full of merfolk. The citizens of the city are not allowed outside the magical barrier that hides them from the mythical humans, and the only way to cross it is if you harness the power of sea crystals. Sansa, ever the curious mermaid, steals a crystal and ventures out to sea...but get much more than she bargained for.Sansa’s discovery sparks anew the rivalry between the merfolk and humans as she is traded on the black market. Theon must choose between family and love before it’s too late.





	the heart of the sea // theonsa

“Did you seriously manage to steal it?”

Gendry opened his pack wide and lifted out the glittering sea crystal. It glittered like a stolen star in his hand, and Sansa reached out and picked it up. It made the water around it sizzle slightly, and she looked up at Gendry. “Gendry, I seriously cannot thank you enough,” she said. “I put you in unquestionable danger and you pulled through. Thank you.”

Gendry sniggered. “Yeah. No need for formality with me, your grace.” He bowed cheekily and swam away into the scattered stones of Shark’s Way. 

“A real sea crystal,” Shireen breathed, her dark eyes wide. The younger girl reached out and traced the facets lightly. “I can’t believe it. And your father has a lot?”

“So many,” Sansa agreed. “Basically a whole chamber. He just started giving me lessons about them, so I had to eavesdrop on all of Robb and Jon’s lessons too, so I could learn how to use it.”

“It’s fascinating.” Daenerys murmured, her violet eyes illuminated by the light the crystal gave off. Her blonde ringlets floated around her head like octopus tentacles. “I’ve always been in awe of their power. Things like that aren’t to be trifled with.”

Sansa laughed. “Are you trying to stop me now, of all times? We’ve been planning this for weeks, Dany.”

Daenerys smiled. “Of course not. I’m so ready to go outside the barrier.”

Sansa’s heart sank like a heavy rock. “Um, Daenerys, about that...according to Robb and Jon’s lessons, the sea crystals can’t take more than one person trough the barrier. We would need two other ones to get you and Shireen through. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier.”

Daenerys’s face sank. “So why didn’t you ask Gendry to steal two more?” She asked, the force of her voice sending bubbles across the water between them. Sansa flinched. “I didn’t want to put him in more danger. Dany, I really am sorry.”

The blonde took a moment to fix her face. “It’s fine. It’s okay.” She breathed, forcing a smile. “Well, I’m happy for you anyways. This has been your dream, Sansa — traveling beyond the barrier! The open sea! All so fascinating.”

“I know,” Sansa gushed, holding the crystal tighter. “I can’t wait. Do you think humans are real?”

“Of course!” Shireen said. “My mother said she saw one swimming along by the border once. A few meters underwater, she said!”

“A real human?” Sansa asked, bewildered. She caught Daenerys’s eye roll from behind Shireen. She ignored it as the younger mermaid nodded vigorously. “Yes. Two fins and everything!”

Shireen liked to tag along with Sansa and Daenerys on their trips outside the city to explore the ruins of previous castles. Rickon was her best friend, but he was often in classes (much more than Sansa) and they didn’t see each other a lot. Shireen was wonderful company and knew so much about mythology and history that Sansa’s lessons hadn’t even mentioned. Shireen was also very beautiful, with a gray-pink tail and long bleached blonde hair that was darker at the roots. Her greyscale scar spread like a vein of silver ore from her forehead down to her neck. Like all mermaids, she wore no top, and her hair covered her breasts. 

Daenerys had been friends with Sansa for as long as she could remember — Daenerys’s father had been the previous king, but he went mad and began to kill everyone in his court. Sansa’s father, Ned, did what was just and mercifully put the king out of his misery, granting his three children full pardon. The eldest child, Rhaegar, was slain in a small civil uprising who wanted the Targaryens to be on the throne once more. After his death, Daenerys and her brother Viserys moved into the palace and became playmates with the other children there. Daenerys was easily more beautiful that both Sansa and Shireen combined — she had a pale complexion (something rare among merfolk), dazzling violet eyes (like all Targaryens had), and white blonde hair that spilled into the water in waves and curls (another Targaryen trademark). Her tail was light purple to match her eyes, and her chest was scantly covered, like she always wore her hair. 

Sansa glanced down at her own self. She was pretty, she guessed. Her tail was reddish-orange, like the color of her favorite type of coral. People had told her that her fins at the end of her tail looked like long trailing flowers, coining her nickname: The Red Flower Princess. Her eyes were icy blue and her hair brighter than her scales. She usually kept her breasts covered much more than other mermaids. She was self-conscious. 

“Are you ready to go?” Daenerys asked. Sansa blinked to clear her head, and nodded. “I think so. I needed a moment to channel all of my energy.”

Daenerys nodded. “Of course. Take your time.”

Sansa took a deep breath, taking in the sweet-tasting water around her. She wanted so desperately to see outside the barrier. She wanted to know why her father didn’t let anyone out. She tuned toward the wall of visible water that separated her from her freedom. Taking a deep breath, she held up the crystal. 

The water rippled around the stone, and suddenly it zipped forward like a speedy fish. Sansa squeaked in alarm as the crystal forced her through the barrier. The water in it was the coldest Sansa had ever been in, it hit her face and made all f her limbs go numb. She panicked momentarily, because if the outside was like this, she wouldn’t be able to swim without feeling in her tail. 

But she popped out on the other side into warm water. She breathed a sigh of relief and then coughed. The water here was much more bitter-tasting than the water in Winterfell. She looked around at her surroundings. It was relatively the same as Winterfell — there were rocks, coral, and hundreds of different types of fish. 

Sansa grinned and turned around to look at Shireen and Daenerys. They were just blurs behind the barrier, but Sansa could barely see Shireen grinning wildly. 

“I did it!” Sansa yelled, hoping they could hear her. 

“That was amazing!” Shireen hollered back, doing a flip in the water. Her face was a watery blur. “How does it feel?”

“The water is a lot more bitter,” Sansa replied, looking around. It really wasn’t that much different than Winterfell. Why didn’t her father let citizens go out here?

“Go for a swim, Sansa,” Daenerys urged. “Explore a little. We’ll stay here and wait for you.”

Sansa blinked. “Really? Do you think I should go?”

“Of course,” Daenerys said silkily. “It’s your dream. Here, come back in an hour. If you’re not back by then, we’ll assume something bad happened to you, okay?”

Sansa took a deep breath. “Okay. I’m going. I’ll keep my sea crystal with me so I can get back in. I’ll see you guys later!”

With a final wave, Sansa took off into the open ocean, giggling and twirling to herself. She swam alongside unique fish and large whales, but she didn’t feel satisfied. Everything here was almost exactly the same as it was in Winterfell. She was confused and a little bit scared. She had expertly remembered certain landmarks to guide her way home — a large fish nest here, a scraggly rock that looked like Robb’s hair there — and felt confident that she could find her way back in the time limit Daenerys had given her. But she decided not to go back until she had found something interesting. 

Her eyes caught on a brightly colored fish that was darting among the rocks of a nearby reef. She watched it flicker towards the surface. 

The surface. 

Sansa’s eyes widened. How could she be so dumb? The surface is the one place Sansa was forbidden to go in Winterfell, and only high-ranked guards were allowed. Holding the sea crystal close, she began to beat her tail hard. 

She broke the surface with a gasp. 

The surface was beautiful. At first she thought she was still underwater, because when she looked up all she could see was blue. But then she realized that it was the thing Old Nan had called sky — it changed from light to dark when the sun and moon moved. She stared up at the sun, dazzled, and then blinked, looking around. 

There were some seagulls clustered on a rock sticking out of the water a few tail-lengths away, but other than that she couldn’t see anything. Wait — what was that? On the horizon? That purple line, it couldn’t be — could it be land?

Was Shireen right, and were humans really real? Were there humans there, walking around and talking, not knowing merfolk were real?

Excitement made Sansa’s heart pound, and she grinned, ducking underwater and powering through the water straight towards the land. All she wanted to do was see a human, if they even existed. Then she could go back and tell Daenerys and Shireen. 

She swam for a ways until she neared the land. It certainly was real, and what startled her the most was the fact that there were buildings near the shore — just like the ones they had in Winterfell! Large walkways of wooden planks had built out to sea, and several creatures were sitting with long poles in their hands. 

Sansa almost yelled out loud. Real humans! Shireen was going to freak. Sansa smiled and ducked underwater, swimming closer. 

The beach was mostly deserted, save for a few boats and a young man sitting a few tail-lengths away. She silent ducked back underwater and swam closer to the beach. The chance to make contact with a human was right here for the taking. 

Something was floating underwater, looking like a large bed of kelp. Several fish swam in circles inside of it, looking panicked. 

“Poor guys,” Sansa murmured to herself, swimming over and sliding into the kelp bed. It didn’t feel like kelp; it wasn’t smooth or slimy, and her scales caught on it painfully. The space was small, but she squished herself into it, grabbing a fish and letting to swim from her hands and out of the kelp. 

She continued this for a while, until only a few small, confused minnows remained. She reached out to take a few in her hands, but then suddenly the kelp tightened around her she dropped the minnows, instead grasping the holes in the kelp. The entrance she had used had disappeared. She was trapped. 

She scrabbled at the kelp and then realized she was being lifted to the surface. Beginning to panic, she tried to tear it, but was not successful. 

Sand bumped against her tail and she was then being dragged across the shallow water. She was trapped in the tight space between the two kelp walls. She gasped and blinked against the sunlight as she was pulled out of the water. 

The kelp around her went slack. Her eyes adjusted to the sunlight, and she blinked several times, tears running down her eyes from the change in light. 

A human stood in front of her, on two fins. His hair was curly, like Robb’s, and an ashy light shade of brown that almost looked grey in the light. His eyes were the color of the sea, and he had several scars across the bridge of his nose. He must’ve been holding the kelp before, because the edges were limp at his feet. His eyes were wide. 

“Seven Hells,” he whispered, his accent rough. Sansa shrank back from him, trying to cover her chest. Her heart pounded. She hadn’t wanted to be captured like this, never captured. She had just wanted to see a human. 

Her thoughts were cut off as the young man suddenly grasped the edges of the kelp again and began dragging her cross the sand with strength she didn’t expect him to have. Sansa screamed and struggled against the kelp, tearing and clawing at it with her claws, but the kelp held firm. 

“Father! Father!” The man yelled over her shrieks, and Sansa twisted around to see an old man, much older than her father, shambling across the sand, a young woman a few paces behind him. The old man had scraggly long hair and a sour expression. The girl had brown hair and a long face, and large eyes. 

The old man stopped when he saw Sansa. “By the Drowned God, Theon,” he murmured. “How—when—“

“Just now,” The young man, Theon, said. “She got caught in my net. Father-“

“Shut up,” Theron’s father growled, pushing forward and crouching next to Sansa. Sansa shrank back the best she could, feeling shamefully exposed. He reached through a hole in the kelp and seized her by the hair, making her whimper. 

“Why, pretty lady,” he said with a smile. His teeth were stained black. “You just might be our saving grace.”


End file.
